"Informed questions, Nybeth." Tiberius said as they entered the damaged main building. The Xiphatain soldiers have already cleaned it out of the technology that was strewn about, to minimize any danger.

"Holadino is a farming town. And should have the least defenses. Granite pass mines some important materials which would be wise to take as it puts them on even ground with us on that ground after Rockbyrd was crushed... Fourside is perhaps the largest city of them all, but taking it would reduce their ability to support their airship fleet up North of here. As you can see. All viable targets. Though, we should aim for Holadino first if we seek to take Port Letosh and Granite Pass if we seek to take Fourside."

Ooc: There could be other benefits as well, if people are smart about it...@Furi: Not quite what I had in mind. lol.

"Oh, they've got loads of options." Lyra said to Ness, pulling up an image of Earth. "For a planet this size, they have a lot of options. they could laser into the core and through it, causing dramatic climate shifts that would destroy the planet easily, they could unleash bombardments of a napalm like substance that would be scattered across the atmosphere, destroying its plant life, or they could land troops and slowly scrape off the planet. If they came in their flagship, they'd have close to 2 million predators embarked, as well as a lot of tech they could use on the ground. They could also drop asteroids on the planet, or use a device that would cause the sun to go supernova, though I don't think the Venomous fangs have that tech available." as she spoke, the hologram showed each occurrence, leaving the planet a lifeless husk before restarting, only to be destroyed again. She nodded to Jess. "Well, we could try to pull them planetside. If I let them know where I am, they'd be happy to swing their leader down personally for a duel. But, that'd leave most of the ship in orbit, which we need to destroy if we want to stop them from finishing the job. Or, as much as I dislike the idea, you could offer me up legitimately. As they said, they'd leave the planet alone, or at the most turn it into a fang world. Not the greatest scenario, but an acceptable one. For you all."

The queen seemed to hesitate, before picking up one of the eggs, and lobbing it at one of the GRUNTS. the egg shattered on whatever it impacted, be it the GRUNT or the wall, and began melting the target.

"Not sure. The guy's another clan leader, and one of the few berserkers not dosed up on drugs meant to make them insane. He'd be really difficult to kill in one on one combat. Possibly though. Probably around 50=50." at the question of ship size, she pulled up an image. "If they brought their flagship, which I suspect they did, it'll be this." The ship was a clatter of designs, but at its center, which were only visible as Lyra pulled the individually small ships off, was an imperial super star destroyer. "That's the center of their ship. The rest act as a layer and a way to advertise their ship kills, kind of like how I wear pelts. That there is quite the unique ship, not built in our universe."

The queen snarled and charged forward, headbutting the GRUNT charging her. as she charged, her tail would loop forward and catch the arm swinging, pushing it back as best she could. One of the facehuggers followed her as she did this, scuttling forward. the other nine lurked inside the pod.

"Might I make a suggestion then?" Nybeth inquired to Tiberius. "Grant me a small contingent of men and I can take the least defended city myself. The rest of your men can deal with attacking another city if that would please you."

Jessica hummed to herself as she pondered over what Lyra said. "Okay, which plan of action results in the smallest possible chance of everyone else on the planet dying?" She asked, having almost no mind at all for tactics."Eh? How do you mean?" Jessica mentally asked Ness. "And you aren't the only one..."

Yukino nods again, silently. The duo end up reaching the gates of Pewtercove.

Ness sighs at the notion of a 50/50. Seeing that Jessica had basically already asked her next question, she nods toward Lyra and asks "How likely would it be to destroy the ship with an outside force?" "Well, the major concurrence is that I'm also fighting a war... against my (former) best friend. That and I have a few things I really regret..." Ness telegraphed to Jess. "...Is it the same with you?"

"We'll need more soldiers and allies than we currently have for that plan. It's not a bad one, but requires more skilled fighters. Holadino should have 100 soldiers as well as a small force, but Granite Pass certainly has about 250 to defend itself with. Even after dealing with the wounded, and restoring our combat strength, we'll need 300 troops, and strong allies to pull of such a feat." Tiberius replied as he sat down at a table with Nybeth.

Athena joins the conversation. "Did you bring more Golems?"

"Of course. We only sent half the Golems with the assault force. So, that's not really a problem."

The GRUNT that was hit by the acid stood up. His wounds seeming to have vanished. Did they heal?

The Queen's headbutt sent the other flying back as he fell back.

The third leaped at her with a horizontal slash aiming for her torso.

Envy would spot several soldiers moving about and Savranth walking towards the main building at the Legaian compound.

A Xiphatian guard stops Yukino and Marston. "Hold it. No entry unless you state your business."

"keep them busy. We sent a message for the clan before. They'll becoming, or at least one of our ships. It can stay stealthed, and torpedo the vessel during a moment its distracted. Like, say, when its leader is killed in a duel." Marcus said from his wall. "mind you, its a big if that we get lucky enough for one of our ships to arrive in the next week."

As the queen turned to face the new threat, the facehugger attacked the one that had been knocked off. It quickly moved to secure itself on the mans face, toes scrabbling to scrape off any protection he had in place. The queen caught this second slash on her arm, which embedded only partway. The acid began eating at the blade as her scythe like tail swung out to lop the mans head off, free hand reaching to eviscerate.

"Oh. Well...you've got more in common with her than I do." Jessica telepathically admitted to Ness. "I was just talking...thinking...whatever...more about having things I regret that I'm trying to make everyone forget about..." Looking over at Marcus after hearing him speak up instead of Lyra, she asked, "So how do we go about keeping them busy?"

"Oh yes, fine, fine. By all means, wait for reinforcements. It would be foolish not to do so after the losses from this most recent battle, I admit." Nybeth replied as he sat down opposite Tiberius. "But as I said, I only require a small contingent. 20, maybe 30 soldiers at the most." I've done more with less.

Yukino looks to the guard and shrugs. Huh... Don't remember security being so tight... "Just need a place to stay... Also, you may be happy to know that Xiphatia took that Legaian base nearby... although I'm sure you already knew that."

Ness seems to be put a bit on edge at Marcus' suggestion. "That seems to be a good logical way to go about it, but I still don't like the thought of throwing Lyra out to die, even if she has a 50/50 chance at winning... Are there any other options? Would someone finishing the job after the duel be... unadvised?"

"I understand the feeling... There's a lot I wish I could go back and fix as well..." Ness telegraphs to Jess with a sympathetic tone.

"I couldn't send you out with so few soldiers. That would be suicide. There is no telling what other forces to may encounter. I heard the officers from this base escaped. They could be at any location awaiting an attack." Tiberius said to Nybeth.

"I agree with the General. You may be powerful, but even he wouldn't lead an attack with so few forces." Athena added.

The Grunt pushed off the queen to dodge her decapitating attempt, but got hit by her claw in his stomach, taking out a chuck of his body.

The other worked to remove the facehugger as it secured itself on him.

"Interesting... An odd creature. Are these the stages of it's development? A shame to destroy this creature, but I will ensure a superior creature rises from it's ashes..." Soto commented as he continued to observe.

"Roy" made his way up to the gates of where he had previously spoken to Lazarus. Addressing the guards there he said "You know you guys are off your game, you lost the Defense Base! Let me speak to Lazarus!"

"No, he's right. That would be the best bet to survive all this. If we really want to keep them busy, we could show my face in cities, let someone with a camera spot me. They'll send a group down to find me, we kill them, we run. They won't bombard for a week now that they've sworn they wont't. As for killing him during the duel from behind... I couldn't approve of it." Lyra shrugged. "She might not, but I'd be fine with it. Hardly unfair, since he's holding a planet ransom." Marcus said.

the queen pulled the grunt by his guts, pulling him in front of the pistol shots, as another facehugger moved forward, jumping to attack the shooter's face. As the grunt struggled to remove the facehugger, it would tighten its ropy tail around his neck, choking him as it delivered the seed of the alien into him.

Yukino just gives the soldier a blank stare. "If I was an enemy, why would I come alone? Wouldn't I also be injured since... y'kno... I would've been on the losing side? Why the hell would I try to talk to you, rather than try to blow the gate up? An enemy wouldn't give a shit about entering legally, I .on the other hand, do. "

"Fine. If I'm to be forced to wait here for reinforcements, then I'll accept however many you would send me with. Assuming you still agree with my plan, of course." So little faith...but what else could I expect? 'Tis only been but one battle, they've yet to see what my magics are truly capable of. Nybeth replied.

"I guess everyone's got something to try and make up for though..." Jessica solemnly thought at Ness, having a hard time maintaining an outer expression that matched with the physical conversation she was having. "So we wait them out for a week, and then if your friends still don't show up by then we play peek-a-boo with these guys until they do?" Jessica asked for clarification.

The Grunt cut into his own guts to free himself and jumped back clutching his stomach.

"That will hurt. The second Generation's can't completely heal those types of injuries... Oh, but it seems I will get to study the birth cycle. Such a curious species. Such toys I found. A glorious gift." Soto replied.

The last Grunt standing shot any facehuggers that came his way, and charged the Queen shooting as he did with his laser pistol. As he reached her, he slashed at her head, attempting to cut it off.

"Not everyone gets injured in battle. And if you weren't an enemy why wouldn't you stay at the base? Obviously none of our men would harm an ally, beastkin. But, if you're going to get angry, I can lock you and your friend here up in our cells."

"Lazarus is... not available. And we already know the base. It's because Astasis is a coward nothing else. He should be half way into Xiphatia by now." The guard said.

Yukino just gives the soldier another blank stare before spinning on her heels and going back the way she came toward the base. Well, Marston needs to find someplace to sleep... Once that's done... I'm gonna give that bastard a little visit...

Ness' expression got a little more depressed as well. "We can only do the best with what we have, despite the mistakes in the past. They just serve as a reminder to never sink under that level again."

She nodded to both Lyra and Marcus before sighing. "We'll leave the broadcasting to you then, Miss Reed. As for helping to defend you until your duel.... I'll try my best."

"That's the general idea." Lyra told Jess. "And thank you, Ness. one can only hope that you won't need to interfere in the duel."

The queen roared in pain as the shots punched into its head, doing damage. She charged the shooter, swinging both hands out to envelope him in a bear hug. As the man shot the facehugger jumping for him, the others retreated, but only momentarily before splitting into two groups and charging the wounded grunt.

OoC: Suppose I should keep track of the number of facehuggers.6 facehuggers remain!

the strike hit the queen, finishing her off in a spew of acid blood.all but two of the facehuggers were shot. The other 2 began wrapping around him, one pinning his arm as the other wrapped around his neck.

"Screw that! I'm going to make all those people back home forget about my past mistakes! I can't go back there again if I don't..." Jessica thought at Ness, her inner voice suddenly sounding greatly impassioned. Turning her focus back to Lyra, she said, "Alright then, guess that's our plan of action from here on out."

"And you would do wise to not underestimate your allies." Nybeth replied to Tiberius. "But I'm little more than a hired sword, so do with my strength what you wish. I only ask you uphold your end of the bargain and compensate me."

"Of course. But pride goes before the fall." Tiberius sad. "We can discuss this once in the morning. I think I shall take a rest here. I advise you to do the same. I believe the surviving Legaians are housed in a section of the barracks. Though, the rest of that section is for our own troops. Perhaps you can rest there." He said as he got up from the table."As for me, I'll retire to our airship for the night."

The GRUNT walked over to his fellow and cut off the facehugger that was on his arm.

With the Queen dead, Soto prepared to have her remains gathered with the proper equipment. He was too excited to care about the fate of his two men, though, he did take measure to have them quarantined to prevent any creatures from escaping.

OoC: Okay, I'm going to bed. The Queen and facehugger remains are being stored in a safe place while the two soldiers with the aliens are going to be moved to be watched over in the "most respectful way" possible.All major people at the base are sleeping. Just like me. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ